American Bar Association Standing Committee on Paralegals 321 N. Clark Street Chicago, IL 60654-7598 (312) 988-5618 www.abaparalegals.org Procedures to Request Approval of Courses Offered in Alternative Delivery Formats (Compressed, Accelerated and Online) Requesting Approval of Courses Offered in Alternative Delivery Formats The Guidelines for the Approval of Paralegal Education Programs require approved programs to apply for advance approval of major changes. G-104.M.2 provides that the initial offering of a legal specialty course in an accelerated, compressed or totally online format as described in G-302.J must be reported (or certified) and approved in advance. Accelerated and compressed courses are offered by means of traditional classroom instruction that meet for fewer than the required number of hours, fulfilling the remaining hour requirements with outside work that is not done online. Totally online courses are offered by means of instruction using online technology with no traditional classroom instruction. G-302.J.2.a provides that courses offered through a partial online format (i.e. hybrid) are considered to be online if 50% or more of the instruction is offered online. Therefore, programs must seek advance approval of (1) accelerated courses meeting for less than the required number of hours set forth in G-302.D; (2) compressed courses meeting for less than the required number of hours set forth in G-302.D; (3) totally online courses; and (4) hybrid courses where 50% or more of the instruction is offered online. A hybrid course with less than 50% online instruction is not subject to the reporting requirements in G-104.M. However, they are considered alternative delivery courses and programs are required to demonstrate compliance of these courses with G-302.J in their reapproval reports. Programs offering legal specialty courses through alternative formats must demonstrate that the courses meet the stated hour requirements of G-302.D. In order to meet the stated hour requirements, students are required to spend at least as many hours in 2010 American Bar Association Page 1 of 5
structured instructional activities that they would spend in a traditional face-to-face class. In other words, in a three semester credit online class students must be engaged in structured instructional activities for at least 37.5 clock hours. Similarly, a three semester credit accelerated course that meets for 20 clock hours must require students to spend a minimum of 17.5 clock hours in structured instructional activities outside of class. Structured instructional activities are those activities substituting for classroom instruction. Examples include reading or watching an online lecture, participating in online discussions or chats, online group assignments, assignments over and above out-of-class or homework assignments normally given in a traditional class, taking quizzes or tests, etc. Work that would normally be done outside of class taken in the traditional classroom setting, such as reading the textbook, studying for exams, homework assignments, etc. cannot be counted as part of the structured instructional activities that substitute for class time. In an alternative delivery course, students must spend the same amount of time on in-class activities and structured instructional activities substituting for seat-time as students spend in class in a traditional course, as well as the same amount of time on activities normally done outside of class. Programs offering legal specialty courses through alternative formats must provide and students must be required to take at least ten semester credits or the equivalent (i.e., 15 quarter credits, 150 contact hours or 125 clock hours) of legal specialty courses through traditional classroom instruction. The requirement for ten semester credits of traditional classroom instruction can be met in several ways. The most common are: 1. Require a specified number of traditional legal specialty courses of every student in the program, adding up to at least ten semester credits. The program may offer several or all of its legal specialty courses in both traditional and alternative formats and students are free to choose which courses they take in the traditional format as long as the total meets or exceeds the ten-credit minimum. 2. Require at least ten semester credits of specific legal specialty courses in traditional format. The program would require certain courses to be taken in the traditional format and offers these courses only through traditional classroom instruction. 3. Combine traditional instruction with alternative instruction in several legal specialty courses, with the total hours of traditional classroom instruction adding up to at least ten semester credits, or 150 contact hours, or 125 clock hours. For example, a program could offer all its courses in hybrid format with at lest 150 contact hours, or 125 clock hours, of traditional classroom instruction dispersed among several courses. Instruction offered through synchronous interactive video systems, as interpreted by the Standing Committee, is considered to be traditional instruction. A copy of the Standing 2010 American Bar Association Page 2 of 5
Committee s interpretation of synchronous interactive video can be found on its website located at http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/paralegals/forms.html. Programs offering alternative delivery courses must have a process in place to verify that each student takes the required traditional instruction. If programs accept legal specialty courses in transfer to satisfy any of the traditional classroom instruction, a procedure must be in place to verify the format of courses accepted in transfer and to limit the number of legal specialty credits that can be earned through transfer. The procedure must also ensure that the courses accepted in transfer are legal specialty, meet the course objectives and practical skills to be developed for the course for which credit is being awarded, and are comparable to the course work offered by the program. See G-302.I.6. Programs must have an independent system in place to verify this information. Programs may not rely solely upon student certification or verification that courses being accepted in transfer are comparable to the course work offered by the program or that such courses were taken in a traditional classroom format. Procedures to Request Approval If a program plans the initial offering of a course in an accelerated, compressed, fully online or online format as defined in G-302.J.2, it must submit a Substantive Change Reporting Form for Alternative Delivery Course Approval. The request must be made well in advance of the proposed initial offering in order to allow the ABA staff and educational consultants sufficient time to review and approve the course. It may take as long as three months before final approval is given if there are any matters that require clarification or revision. The Substantive Change Reporting Form for Alternative Delivery Course Approval can be downloaded from the Standing Committee s website located at http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/paralegals/forms.html. G104.M.4 provides that once a program has obtained advance approval of two courses in an alternative format, it is permitted to offer additional courses in that same format without advance approval on the condition the program certifies in advance of offering such additional courses that the offerings are substantially the same in form and quality as those previously approved. For example, if an approved program obtains advance approval to offer two accelerated courses, it may certify any additional accelerated courses. If the program then decides to offer online courses, it must obtain advance approval of the first two online courses before it can certify online courses since this is a different alternative format. There is one exception to this rule if a program has obtained approval of two fully online courses, the program does not need to submit for advance approval any hybrid courses where the percentage of online instruction is 50% percent or more. In such instances, these hybrid courses can be certified in advance of being offered. However, if a program has obtained approval of two hybrid courses with 50% or more of online instruction, it must still submit its first two fully online courses for advance approval. In order to certify a course, the program must submit a Substantive Change Reporting Form for Alternative Delivery Course Certification. This form can be downloaded from ABA Standing Committee on Paralegals website located at 2010 American Bar Association Page 3 of 5
http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/paralegals/forms.html. Detailed information on all certified courses must be provided by a program in its next report to the ABA. Preparation of Required Report The written report must include detailed responses to the relevant questions set forth in the form. These questions are designed to elicit all the information necessary for the ABA staff to evaluate whether the proposal meets the requirements for alternative delivery format contained in G-302.J of the Guidelines. Programs are advised to read G-302.J carefully and to contact the ABA staff before submitting the report if any matters contained in the Guidelines or the questions require clarification. Course Materials Required for Report In addition to providing complete responses to each of the questions, you must also include the requested documentation. The following exhibits must be attached to the report: 1. Exhibit A For each course you are proposing to offer in an alternative format, attach a completed Exhibit 14 (Legal Specialty Course Information Sheet) from the reapproval report form (effective September 2008) reporting all requested information for the offering of such course or courses in a traditional format. 2. Exhibit B For each course you are proposing to offer in an alternative format, attach a completed Exhibit 15 (Information on Courses Offered in Alternative Formats) from the reapproval report form (effective September 2008) reporting all requested information for the offering of such course or courses in an alternative format. Regardless of the delivery format, the content of the course should be similar and the course objectives and outcomes should be the same for the alternative delivery course as for the traditional course. 3. Exhibit C Attach any proposed assessment instruments you plan to use to assess the effectiveness of the alternative format. Assessment of Courses Offered in Alternative Delivery Formats The ABA Guidelines for the Approval of Paralegal Education Programs require programs to assess the effectiveness of compressed, accelerated, or partial online formats (G-302.J.2.a.4) and online formats (G-302.J.2.b.4) used for instruction of legal specialty courses. 2010 American Bar Association Page 4 of 5
Among the recommended means for assessing effectiveness are the following kinds of activities: 1. An analysis of attrition and performance data (i.e., grades) for students taking courses in alternative formats compared with data for students taking the same courses in a traditional classroom setting. 2. An analysis of how students taking courses in alternative formats are performing in relationship to the specific learning outcomes established by the program for each of its legal specialty courses. 3. An analysis of the amount of time that students spend online in structured instructional activities for each online legal specialty course, based on electronic capability that records the amount of time each student spends online in various activities. 4. An analysis of graduation and placement rates for students who took a substantial number of legal specialty courses online/compressed, compared with data for students who took the paralegal program through traditional classroom instruction. 5. Student perceptions about and satisfaction with online/compressed legal specialty courses, using questionnaires that have detailed questions about student perceptions of learning in this format, such as satisfaction with the specific online technology used, suggestions for improvement, etc. Review of Report by ABA Staff/Consultants The ABA staff and one of the consultants will review your request and let you know as soon as possible if the course may be approved or further information is required before approval of the course or courses offered in the alternative delivery format may be granted. Remember that the course is not approved until the review is complete and you have been notified of the decision to approve the course or courses. 2010 American Bar Association Page 5 of 5